T.J. Puchyr agrees to buy Rick Ware Racing with plans to build a 3-car NASCAR team

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – One of the founders of Spire Motorsports has entered an agreement to purchase the NASCAR team owned by Rick Ware and is jumping back into the stock car series because he believes the current charters are grossly undervalued.

T.J. Puchyr, who in 2018 alongside Jeff Dickerson launched the Spire team to take over the charter that Furniture Row Racing could not unload, told The Associated Press on Thursday he and Rick Ware Racing have a deal for him to take over Ware’s organization next season.

When Puchyr and Dickerson bought the Furniture Row charter, the market for NASCAR’s version of franchise models was essentially dead. Their agency had been hired by Furniture Row owner Barney Visser to sell the charter and when they couldn’t find a buyer, the two decided to purchase it themselves for $6 million and launch their own team.

That decision jump-started the charter market and the most recent charters sold – when Stewart-Haas Racing went out of business at the end of last season – went for approximately $30 million. Puchyr and Dickerson are largely credited with pumping life and value into an otherwise dormant charter system.

Puchyr last year sold his shares of Spire to Dan Towriss, the CEO of TWG Motorsports and header of the new Cadillac F1 team. Puchyr has spent 2025 consulting with various teams, including RWR and Legacy Motor Club. He’s watched the market closely and has attended several of the recent court hearings involving NASCAR against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, who have filed an antitrust lawsuit over the charter agreement those two teams refused to sign last September.

There are only 36 Cup Series charters, which guarantee a team entry into every NASCAR race and a steady revenue stream. Puchyr believes they are greatly undervalued and in one of his final deals with Spire, he helped acquire a charter from Live Fast Motorsports for $40 million.

“I am bullish on wanting to build a three-car team. I believe in the France family and the direction of the sport and I want the rest of the shareholders and industry to know that I believe the charters are worth $75 million or more,” he told AP.